Yeah. I can only conjecture based on activity in the forums why this is in there. It's definitely a thing some players want to pursue. But so are spells (more so!).

I think ultimately it was a mistake to try to cram the PC and GMC back into one book and we're seeing the results of that here. Earthdawn's setting has promised robust Enchanting mechanics for 20 years but never truly delivered. They were supposed to be in the GMG but got cut from there and I think the Devs didn't want to push them back again, knowing that it would be pushed not one book back but four. High Circle Spells have never really been what this game is about, and I think I understand the willingness to push them back in favor of Enchanting.

I think the new Cantrip Knacks will go a long way in scratching the itch for new Spells, though.

I think ultimately it was a mistake to try to cram the PC and GMC back into one book and we're seeing the results of that here.

This is a fair assessment. Pulling back the curtain a bit...

If I had the opportunity to go back to the start, knowing what I know now there are some things I would do differently.

When I was planning things out at the start of this whole thing, I was looking at the ED3 Player's & GM's Companions. The Player's Companion, especially, feels thin to me. The vast majority of the space is taken up with the Adept's Way essays. Including them ran strongly against my goal of minimizing the amount of unnecessary reprinting of material. The essays, while excellent, are fluff and take up a lot of space. The book(s) they appear in are available in PDF. They aren't necessary.

I underestimated what the smaller form factor would do as far as what could fit in the books, and they ended up thicker than I anticipated. Honestly, they are at the limit of what the binder could handle.

There was also the issue of what was promised as far the Kickstarter goes. Because of the campaign's success and stretch goals, certain things were promised and that makes it hard to change course midstream. Having promised a single Companion, we couldn't really break it into two books -- especially with the production delays and related problems.

Don't misunderstand, I'm still proud of the work done so far. I have few complaints as far as the content goes. Production logistics and such... I would go back and change some things if I could.

I think the new Cantrip Knacks will go a long way in scratching the itch for new Spells, though.

But basically, there are a handful of Spellcasting knacks that can be used to create basic effects that vary between different magician Disciplines. They are normally a standard action, but if the magician is weaving a spell thread that round the knack can be used as a simple action. This allows a magician to do a little bit of something extra on the rounds they're weaving threads.

But basically, there are a handful of Spellcasting knacks that can be used to create basic effects that vary between different magician Disciplines. They are normally a standard action, but if the magician is weaving a spell thread that round the knack can be used as a simple action. This allows a magician to do a little bit of something extra on the rounds they're weaving threads.

Technically it's still Thread Weaving, but it ultimately depends on how you view reattuning on the fly.

This is new territory, so there might be some as-yet-unforeseen balance issues that shake out. The goal is to have these effects be comparatively minor -- not as good as what a spell can do -- so it shouldn't be too bad. But... I need to think about it a little bit.

Just to keep up, is elven nations and questers still planned for release this year, with mystic emporium, then diciplines first half of next year?

Just wanting to get a rough time scale and order, and see if things are on track, and havent changed.

Questors is back from layout and the pre-art proof has been sent out to KS backers while we get art drawn and dropped in. It should be out in PDF pretty soon (probably early July?) and we're hoping to have the print copies back from the printer in time to have them at GenCon the first weekend of August.

Elven Nations is still in development. It is still planned for this year. Mystic Emporium and the (officially untitled) Discipline book are in the pipeline after that, but they're still being worked on. Also in production is an Iopos book, and a book on airships, riverboats, and large-scale combat (a big chunk of which was developed for the Companion but just wouldn't fit).

In more nebulous form: a book on Urupa, one on Arancia, and one looking at Rugaria, Great Thera, and the eastern Selestrean Sea. (Trying out a new writer on a smaller project updating some material with some new stuff as well.) We'll probably do a bestiary of some sort, and there are rumbles about dragons and/or Horrors books.

Questors is back from layout and the pre-art proof has been sent out to KS backers while we get art drawn and dropped in. It should be out in PDF pretty soon (probably early July?) and we're hoping to have the print copies back from the printer in time to have them at GenCon the first weekend of August.

Is there any info you can share about the content of that book? Will it contain the various extra disciplines that haven't yet been officially updated to ED4 (Traveled Scholar, Horror Stalker, etc.) for instance? Or will it be something brand new?

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
(Groucho Marx)

Is there any info you can share about the content of that book? Will it contain the various extra disciplines that haven't yet been officially updated to ED4 (Traveled Scholar, Horror Stalker, etc.) for instance? Or will it be something brand new?

That book is largely Morgan's project, but the plan is for it to have many (if not all) of the not-yet-updated-to-ED4 Disciplines. He recently shared the ED4 Horror Stalker with me (though I haven't had much chance to look at it in depth yet). I know he's been working on Taildancer.

I've been meaning to do a blog post about this, but one of the things being done with some of these secondary/alternate Disciplines builds off the work we did for questors. That is, some older "Disciplines" seem to be much better suited with what (for lack of a better term so far) I've been calling "mystery cults".

For example, Horror Stalker. There will be a "Horror Stalker" ability, and it gives access to the neat-o keen Horror Stalker-specific talents, but it's intended to supplement an existing Discipline, not stand on its own. Lightbearers would fit into this new design space really nicely as well.